Managing a restaurant is enough work when everything is going well. The last thing you need is problems in the kitchen. To avoid “kitchen nightmares”, follow this simple guide to restaurant kitchen management.
In this guide we’ll discuss:
- Managing kitchen inventory
- Organizing and cleaning the kitchen
- Establishing processes and routines
- Maintaining kitchen equipment
- Gaining front of house support
Read More: Choosing a Restaurant Business Structure
Kitchen Inventory Management
Having what you need, when you need it, is a big part of your kitchen running smoothly. Your POS system should have inventory management built in, so take advantage of it.
Make sure you’re ordering what you need on time and resupplying the kitchen according to reports on sales and inventory from your POS.
If you’re not satisfied with the inventory management and reporting in your current system, Rezku POS is affordable and features powerful inventory management and reporting functionality.
Perform a kitchen inventory audit on a regular basis to make sure stock levels are accurate. If they’re not, start an investigation to find out why. If employees are stealing or food is rotting before it’s sold you need to get to the bottom of it.
Read More: Choosing a Restaurant Business Structure
Kitchen Organization and Cleanliness
What takes minutes to organize will save you from hours of headaches. Take the time to develop a codified system of labeling and stocking shelves, so outdated food can be identified quickly and removed.
An effective stock rotation system helps you save valuable space in the production area and reduce waste.
Frequent cleaning of the kitchen from top to bottom is extremely important and should be made a high priority. Not only does it keep your equipment working properly and reduce risks of injury, cleanliness ensures food quality and is a number one concern of guests.
Would you feel confident inviting your guests in to see your production area? If not, step up your standards!
Organizing and establishing a cleaning regime gives your brigade a sense of discipline, pride and a commitment to quality. By cultivating these values in your cooks you can depend on them to perform well when the pressure is on.
Avoid issues caused by a disorganized and filthy kitchen environment by maintaining high standards of organization and cleanliness.
Establish Kitchen Routines
Have a well-defined system in place for moving food through the kitchen, based on what’s most efficient for your restaurant concept.
If your kitchen brigade falls apart during a rush figure out what’s going wrong. Where is the breakdown? Find a new system for expediting orders, increase communication, fix broken equipment.
Take the time to train your staff the art of kitchen timing so you can count on your team to maintain food quality standards even on a super-busy night.
Give everyone in the kitchen a specific responsibility and clear guidelines for what they should be doing at all times. Hold kitchen staff accountable for doing things the right way, every time.
Read More: Choosing a Restaurant Business Structure
Maintain Kitchen Equipment
Provide your kitchen staff with the right tools for the job. When equipment malfunctions make it a priority to fix it.
Remember, issues in the kitchen directly affect your guests’ experience. To ensure safety and speedy service, your kitchen staff must have the proper tools.
- Sharp knives
- Enough pans
- All working equipment
- Good ventilation
You depend on your kitchen staff to work hard, get orders right and work as a team. Support their success by providing the right equipment.
Proper equipment maintenance should be built into your kitchen processes and part of your cleaning procedures. Keeping everything clean ensures a long life for expensive kitchen equipment.
Listen to your head chef and trust their advice regarding what the kitchen needs. After all, you hired them to be the expert. If Chef wants more spatulas, get more spatulas.
Front of House Support
A great restaurant manager takes steps to solve problems before they happen. Ensuring that orders are taken correctly in the first place is the job of your wait staff.
Ensure that all front of house employees receive proper training. Equipping your servers with mobile POS tablets replaces paper and pen. Using forced and unforced modifiers you control the order flow, ensuring perfect tickets always reach the kitchen. Rezku POS lets you set unlimited product specific modifiers.
With wireless tableside ordering, the kitchen starts getting tickets while the table is still ordering. Expediting the time it takes between taking and making orders means shorter guest waiting times, more enjoyment and more time to correct any problems.
Wireless printing to the kitchen improves communication, no longer having to decrypt a server’s messy handwriting. Keeping servers out of the kitchen also keeps kitchen crew on task without distractions.
Conclusion
When your kitchen is well managed the rest of service falls into line. By maintaining a close eye on stock levels you avoid product shortages.
Keeping the prep area and kitchen clean and well organized ensures food quality, safety and keeps equipment working properly.
Make sure the kitchen has everything they need to pull off a stellar service. If something breaks, get it fixed in a timely manner.
Use tableside ordering to keep tickets organized and complete. When the kitchen gets clear orders from servers there is less chance of remakes, which can throw off service.
This guide to restaurant kitchen management best practices is part of the free resource library provided by Rezku. Rezku POS is designed to make running service a breeze. Featuring industry standard Epson printers, tickets are clear and well organized. Seat numbers, modifiers, quantity and order numbers are positioned on the ticket to maximize readability.
Rezku POS also includes a KDS option, included free with service. Simply connect an iPad to the Rezku KDS app and start saving paper. Bumping, un-bumping, coursing and notes to the kitchen work just as you’d expect them to.
